This will probably be a very long Blog entry but it is jam packed with some awesome leaps of Faith and God's subtle guidance.
About six weeks ago I had a dream about a house in a very specific subdivision in town. It's a small subdivision, way out of our price range, and houses rarely go on the Market. In the dream I was touring an open house and wanted to buy it. I actually told Matt and my Mom about the dream, thinking it was nothing more than a strange pregnancy dream.
About a month ago (see below for specific timeline) we started a construction project on our house. We have a living room that has been used as an office/playroom/"catch-all" room. We hired a contractor to put up a wall and turn it into an additional bedroom and an office. The idea behind the remodel was to make this house more comfortable and accommodating for our growing family. Construction started as planned and we were very excited about it.
Literally two days after demolition commenced Matt and I were out and about and stumbled upon a large house with a gorgeous lot. We weren't house shopping and we had actually recently decided that we wouldn't be moving for another couple years. The details of how we stumbled upon this house are fuzzy to both of us and our stories still don't exactly match. Regardless, we fell in love with the house at first site, returned later in the day for an open house, and continued to fall in love. Both of us, but I think I in particular, felt God telling me that this house was for us. That may seem weird to you if you've never felt God speaking to you, but if you have then you know exactly what I mean. The problem: it's way out of our price range. Or so we thought.
Sitting at home that night we couldn't stop thinking about that house so we crunch some numbers and realize that we COULD afford that house. Just barely. And we'd be eating rice and beans until Matt gets his promotion (which is supposed to happen this summer). We decide to throw out an offer and just see what happens. Luckily they weren't accepting offers until the following weekend so we had time to do some homework, get pre-approved, etc.
Now you may have made this connection quicker than I did...but yes, you guessed it. This house happens to be in the same neighborhood as the house in my dream, almost in the exact location. And the first words out of my mouth when we got in the car after the open house were almost identical to the words I used to describe the house in my dream, although it was a day or two before I realized this.
So we submit the offer. We gave the most competitive offer we could come up with, but in this sellers market there was bound to be several offers well above asking price, with no contingencies, and with a strong down payment. We had none of those to offer. We did offer slightly over asking price, based on a "warm fuzzy" I felt from God. We didn't have money saved up for a down payment because we weren't planning on buying a new house. Our down payment is tied up in the equity of our current home, which if you remember is under construction. I attempt to increase our chances by writing a personal letter to the seller explaining what we loved about the house, why we think it's perfect for us, and included a couple photos of our family.
There were four offers submitted, one backed out the following day. Down to three....and we were apparently in second place. Every day that week we were given new reasons to hope that the buyer in first place wouldn't work out. All week I still felt God telling me that this was our house, that His timing is perfect, and just to trust Him. Finally on Friday, almost a full week after submitting the offer, we were told that the house is ours!!!! Enter the "Holy Moly what have we gotten ourselves into" phase.
Saturday the 29th, the day after our offer was accepted, was my 30th birthday complete with construction, listing our house, preparing for an Open House the following day, and a birthday party....all in the 104 deg heat! Talk about being overwhelmed. Construction wasn't as far along as we had thought it would be, so the Open House showed two VERY unfinished rooms. We were still hoping that someone would see through to the finished product and offer above and beyond our asking price. After all, this is a Sellers Market and houses around here have been getting snatched up for $20K above asking. We had high hopes which diminished every day we didn't get an offer. I had a "warm fuzzy" that we would get an offer on Thursday for exactly our asking price....which we had calculated would NOT be enough money to cover closing costs etc of getting into the new house. Thursday comes and goes. Construction moves along at a snail's pace. We hold another open house the following Sunday...still with two VERY unfinished rooms. No offers.
For almost two weeks I have to keep my house picked up and as clean as possible (rather difficult under construction and with a toddler running around) ready for realtor tours at any moment. Some days we had zero tours, and some days we had as many as five tours. I'm constantly rearranging my schedule to remain flexible for realtor tours. Construction was scheduled to be completed over a week ago, but is still crawling along.
Thursday, July 11th we receive an offer at exactly our asking price. I wasn't surprised (remember my "warm fuzzy") but we were both a bit disappointed because we didn't think this was enough money to cover our costs. We meet with our realtor to discuss the offer and learn several things. 1) The Market has changed just enough over the past two weeks that we are actually VERY lucky to have an offer for our asking price 2) the buyers are strong buyers. There are no contingencies and want a quick closing and 3) there is just barely enough money to cover our closing costs and realtor costs. It seems like God was providing exactly what we NEEDED to get into the new house, and not a penny more.
Today we accepted the offer and are preparing to move on August 3rd. We are overwhelmed with the changes God has thrown our way and completely trust Him that He has a plan to prosper our family. None of this would have or COULD have happened without His prompting or His hand maneuvering every detail of the process.
Construction is 95% done. We won't get to enjoy the new rooms before we move and you may be wondering, like I did, what the purpose behind the remodel is now that we're moving. Well....God's perfect timing again. We wouldn't have been able to list this house for what we did had it been a 3 bedroom still. Making it a 4 bedroom meant we were able to list it at a high enough price that gave us the equity we need to move into the new house. Pretty cool huh?
Reflecting on the past several weeks of stress I realize that in the
grand scheme of things we've been rather lucky...rather than provide a house with twice the number of bedrooms, twice the square footage, and three times as much yard, God could have asked
us to sell all our stuff and move to Africa!
Here are some "before" photos of our remodel, and a walk through "after" video.
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| Front Entry-way looking into the "catch-all" room |
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| Extremely cluttered "catch-all" room |
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| New window installed and new wall going up |
SUMMARY of crazy events
About six weeks ago: had a dream
Thursday June 13th: Our contractor starts demolition on our remodel
Saturday June 15th: We stumble upon our "dream forever home"
Saturday June 22nd: We submit an offer on the house
Friday June 28th: Our offer gets accepted
Saturday June 29th: We list our current house on the Market (still under construction)
Sunday June 30th: First Open House
Sunday July 7th: Second Open House
Thursday July 11th: First and ONLY offer proposed
Friday July 12th: We accept the offer
Saturday Aug 3rd: Proposed moving day
